Dr. Ethan Choi quotes from Chicago Med

So this was your idea?

Dr. Choi volunteers at the zoo.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Normally we wouldn't bring an animal in here, but we couldn't diagnose without a CT.

Well, that's fine, but I'm not a veterinarian.

Dr. Ethan Choi

She needs a cardiothoracic surgeon.

You've done this procedure many times.

Oh, yeah, I have. On human beings.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Same plumbing, just bigger. Crack her chest and plug the hole.

View quote →

Are we sure that we're all comfortable spending our time and the hospital's resources to save an animal?

Dr. Rhodes, zoos rent pandas from the Chinese government for a million dollars a year. Why? Because people love pandas. So if we save this one, it's a public relations coup for this hospital. One which will lead to much needed donations to save human lives. And... and there's an issue beyond that. I've learned that there are less than 2,000 pandas left in the world.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Connor, we should do whatever we can to keep her alive.

View quote →

So, you volunteer at the zoo, huh?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Yeah.

How come?

Dr. Ethan Choi

You'll laugh.

Just try me.

Dr. Ethan Choi

[sighs] All right. A few hours ago I lost a kid who was shot. Another one. So much of my work...stabbings, shootings...i's dark, man. Worst of human nature. But animals...not to say they don't kill each other, but they don't do it out of malice. They're innocent. They're light.

View quote →

Dr. Ethan Choi

[a patient has a gun up his rectum] He says he has no idea how the gun got up there.

All right, what are our options?

Dr. Ethan Choi

It's not gonna be easy getting it out. It's just past his sphincter.

Dr. Jeff Clarke

Plus, the hammer's cocked. So if there's a live round in there...

Seriously?

Dr. Stanley Stohl

Could do some real damage... 22 single-shot derringer. That's a big kick for a little gun.

So we work up a plan to get him to the O.R. Page the surgeon on call.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Ms. Goodwin, I think it'd be safer to do it here. Jeff and I both have weapons experience. We sedate him, try to slide it out. If we can't make it, then we call in surgery.

Dr. Jeff Clarke

I'm in.

Maggie Lockwood

Should we call CPD?

Yes. We'll need enough body armor and gear to protect whoever's in there with him. And let's keep this area clear.

Dr. Stanley Stohl

And I'll keep the cameraman away from all this. It's unsafe, and frankly, it's distasteful.

View quote →

Dr. Choi, what are you doing?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Putting in an IO.

Can I speak with you?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Hang on one second. Almost...

Now.

Dr. Ethan Choi

[to April] I'm in. He's 95% TBSA. Calculate his fluid based on Parkland, and run everything through the warmer.

Copy.

[stepping outside] I thought I told you to make him comfortable and move on.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Dr. Latham, standing by while a patient dies is not in my job description.

He has full thickness burns over 90% of his body. There is no chance of recovery.

Dr. Ethan Choi

He's awake, talking, lucid, not in any pain.

As you well know, he's not in pain because his cutaneous nerves have been destroyed by the burn. Very soon, his organs will begin to shut down. He is going to die. And treating him will only take resources away from patients who have a chance of survival.

View quote →

[in the hope of walking again, their patient has been getting stem cell injections in Mexico]

Good luck? Ethan, are you kidding?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Nat, I've met combat vets who have been paralyzed. The feelings of inferiority can be overwhelming. If you told them a bottle of snake oil might help them walk again, they'd drink it every time.

So you agree with what Nick's doing?

Dr. Ethan Choi

I understand it, Nat.

View quote →

Elliot is very troubled. The poor kid is just consumed with sexual thoughts.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Aren't most kids his age?

Yeah, but he's been raised to believe that sex is wrong unless it's for procreation. And repressing his natural urges is triggering aggressive impulses, which he's struggling to control.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Aggressive?

He fetishizes blondes. Stalks them.

Dr. Ethan Choi

We're talking about a sexual predator?

Not a psychopath. I mean, he has a conscience. I mean, I think he could definitely benefit from therapy, but I'm not ruling out those meds.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Chemical castration, really?

It's temporary, Ethan. Raping somebody isn't.

View quote →

SGStan Gallagher

So a kid got beat up. What does he need a psychiatrist for?

Well, Elliot was caught peeping on girls in the shower at school.

DGDebbie Gallagher

Oh, my god.

SGStan Gallagher

Wait 'till I get him home.

But much more troubling are some violent impulses that, so far, he hasn't acted upon.

Dr. Ethan Choi

And there is something we can do.

Elliot wants us to give him a medication that would turn off his testosterone. This would significantly decrease his sex drive and make it much easier for him to control these impulses, but we do need your permission to do it.

SGStan Gallagher

"Turn off his testosterone"? What exactly are you talking about?

The medical term is chemical castration.

DGDebbie Gallagher

What?

It's completely reversible. The idea would be to combine it with traditional therapy with the hope of ultimately weaning him off the medication.

SGStan Gallagher

No. No way.

Elliot could very well be on the verge of acting out on some very disturbing impulses, including rape.

DGDebbie Gallagher

He would never do anything like that.

SGStan Gallagher

You people are sick.

Again, this was your son's idea.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Elliot is torn up about this. He's scared he may not be able to stop himself.

View quote →

We cannot do this, Ethan.

Dr. Ethan Choi

He was clear in his decision.

Because you pressured him, made him feel like he had to choose right now.

Dr. Ethan Choi

No, I gave him his medical options, and he decided on what was best for him. Don't put this on me.

It is on you. Your hands may have been tied by his advance directive, but giving him heparin knowing it's lethal, that's assisted suicide.

Dr. Ethan Choi

April, we can't save Gary, but one organ donor can save up to eight lives. One tissue donor can improve the lives of up to fifty others. Because of him, fifty-eight people get a second chance. Put in the order for heparin.

No.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Then I'll do it myself.

View quote →

You saw Mr. Crocker?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Yeah. Pretty young to have that kind of heart trouble.

Well, could be genetics or... he said he's alone, right? He's not married. No friends. No family.

Dr. Ethan Choi

None.

Loneliness puts you at risk for heart disease.

Dr. Ethan Choi

That for real?

Yeah. I think we all know that love can hurt, right? But loneliness, that'll kill you.

View quote →

Dr. Ethan Choi

Hey, Nat, I was speaking with Eric; the drugs, he's self-medicating. Since he was a kid, he's gotten sick after eating protein. Myra was a vegan; avoided protein.

You're thinking that's what made her sick, too?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Last month, when Myra was feeling confused, she was fasting while studying.

Ketosis. Her body was starving, so it started digesting muscle as fuel, which released protein into her blood. Okay, well, that explains what made her sick last month, but what about today?

Dr. Ethan Choi

The fellowship.

She probably wasn't eating again.

Dr. Ethan Choi

I think this is OTC. A metabolic disorder fits.

You were right. The visits were connected.

View quote →

DADon Adams

A metabolic... disorder caused her death?

The precise term is "ornthine transcarbamylase deficiency", or OTC. You see, Myra's liver was missing a vital enzyme that helps break down protein.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Something as simple as eating a burger could cause toxic levels of ammonia to build up in her blood and attack her nervous system.

CACarol Adams

But Myra was a vegan.

Which is how she was able to avoid symptoms for so long, but when she pushed herself and didn't eat - finals, the fellowship - her body started breaking down muscle, which released protein into her blood.

CACarol Adams

So, you mean she'd be alive right now if she'd just... eaten?

DADon Adams

If this disease is genetic, that means one of us gave it to her.

Yes. Um, it is passed through the X chromosome, from mother to child, but...

Dr. Ethan Choi

OTC sufferers exhibit totally normal liver function. That's why all of Myra's tests came back clean.

Yeah. We were only able to diagnose her once Eric explained his lethargy and sickness after eating. We believe he has the defect, as well, and has been self-medicating with drugs.

View quote →

Dr. Ethan Choi

What happened back there... sometimes when people are grieving, they last out.

EAEric Adams

Yeah, no, that's... that's how my folks always are. Man, they-they-they think I'm, uh... I'm worthless. I don't know. May-maybe I am, but they think I want to be like this, and-and I really don't. Uh, you know, My-Myra, she was the only one who ever, like... like, really... like, like, saw me. You know?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Yeah.

EAEric Adams

And now it's...

Dr. Ethan Choi

What do you want, Eric?

EAEric Adams

I want to get clean. You know, I wanna, like, wake up and just feel clear.

Dr. Ethan Choi

Okay. We'll set you up with a social worker, get you in a program.

EAEric Adams

Was... seriously?

Dr. Ethan Choi

Yeah. You'll get the support you need, but it's up to you to come through.

EAEric Adams

Why are you doing this for me?

Dr. Ethan Choi

I guess I'm seeing that there's a difference between a crutch and a helping hand.

View quote →

Dr. Ethan Choi

We know she has AIDS. She knows she has AIDS. Her aunt must know on some level, this isn't the flu.

Yeah, but there's a difference between knowing something and saying it out loud. You say it out loud, and it's real.

View quote →

You know, Dr. Choi, there's a pretty important statute, known as the HIPPA privacy rule, that protects every patient's personal health information from being shared with anybody else.

Dr. Ethan Choi

You heard her, Ms. Goodwin. She wants us to help her niece.

Still, it's not for you to tell her. That's the rule.

Dr. Ethan Choi

[turning to leave, he stops at the door] With all due respect, if all we were gonna do is follow the rules, we should've done what Stohl wanted and turfed her back to East Mercy.